Working the Sea: Selections from the National Fisherman Collection, Penobscot Marine Museum

During the month of April*, an exhibit from the National Fisherman Collection at the Penobscot Marine Museum will be on view in the Picker Room Gallery at the Camden Public Library.

National Fisherman was introduced in 1954 as a monthly publication focused, then and now, on commercial fishermen: the industry that surrounds them, the boats they use, and the gear they rely on. Fishermen weren’t the only audience, however, and for many years, it was known as “the saltiest magazine on the newsstand”— a good part of its readership owned pleasure boats, wanted to build, or were just interested in maritime history. National Fisherman covered it all: fishing, building and repairing small boats, trending maritime equipment and supplies, the ordinary drama of life and work at sea, present and past. An upcoming photo book by long-time NF contributor, Michael Crowley, will explore stories from the archives of the magazine. This exhibit draws directly from his book and research, and of course from the National Fisherman Collection at Penobscot Marine Museum.

PMM warmly thanks Diversified Communications, the parent company of the magazine who donated the NF photographs here in 2012, for their generous financial support of the exhibit.

On Thursday, April 27^th at 6:30 pm, Michael Crowley, author of the forthcoming book Working the Sea, will give an illustrated talk on his experience writing and editing for National Fisherman magazine.  As Boats & Gear editor at NF, he provided stories on boatbuilding, boat repair, and fishing gear. The geographic coverage of his work included New England, the South Atlantic, Gulf, West Coast and Alaska. He wrote many pieces himself, and assigned and edited the rest. Michael’s talk coincides with the current exhibit on display at CPL which features captioned photographs selected from the book, and provides access to the complete short essays which accompany them. He resides in Belfast and still contributes regularly to National Fisherman.

*The Picker Room hosts meetings and library events and is not always open for viewing. Please call ahead or check our website calendar to see what’s happening daily.

The Camden Public Library is grateful to the Penobscot Marine Museum for the opportunity to host this exhibit during Maritime Month.